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G2A and Factorio developer reach $40K settlement for illegally-obtained keys

G2A is about to make good on an old promise after an investigation revealed that it had previously sold illegal copies of Early Access title Factorio.

Ozzie Mejia

May 20, 2020 1:05 PM

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A number of developers across the gaming space have taken issue with online retailer G2A over the years. There were many allegations that G2A had engaged in the resale of gaming keys attained through illegal means. The marketplace had insisted that its activities were legitimate, throwing out an offer that it would compensate developers tenfold if it turned out they were selling any of their keys illegally, provided that the developer went through an independent auditor. Factorio developer Wube Software took that offer and the result is a $40,000 settlement between the two parties.

According to a story by GamesIndustry.biz and confirmed by G2A themselves, the retailer and Wube cooperated on an internal audit and discovered that out of 321 illegal keys sold between March and June 2016, 198 were sold on the G2A marketplace. With those 198 keys valued at a total of $3,960 (based on Factorio's $20 base cost), G2A will compensate Wube with a $39,600 payment. While an independent auditor was supposed to be part of the original deal, a breakdown in logistics resulted in the two parties cooperating with each other instead.

This is far from the first time that people in the gaming industry have taken issue with G2A. Developers like No More Robots' Mike Rose and Vlambeer's Rami Ismail had previously urged users to pirate their games rather than buy from G2A, since they'd make the same amount of money anyway. Gearbox had previously worked with G2A on the Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition Collector's Edition, but quickly cut ties with the retailer.

The late John "TotalBiscuit" Bain was also among G2A's most prominent critics. Here's a statement he issued back in April 2017:

As for Factorio, the game remains on Steam Early Access, but also holds the distinction of being the only Early Access title to sit on the Shacknews Community Top 100 Games of the 2010s, placing at #27. There's no 1.0 release date at this time. (Update: As noted in the comments, there is, in fact, a 1.0 date for Factorio. It's set to come out of Early Access in September.)

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?